(a deviant, diaphanously)

Entries tagged with travel

No, not "Gothness" as on the T-Shirt -- but I am getting ahead of myself; this sort of stuff is the neology mechanism I have in mind.

But neo or not, the weekend before last needs a mention here. It's all graylion's fault of course. He asked me a number of months ago, "are you coming to Whitby in April?" and I -- well I just said "yes" and then, belatedly, "and what's Whitby"?

Never before had I even contemplated going to a 6-day-weekend-long Gothic music (etc.) festival. Oops. I hardly know which way to hold an eyeliner, am not particularly interested in Victoriana, am pretty much a vanilla sort of sexual being (for a dyke) and, well, not a Goth. I think. (Shouldn't I have realized something before, otherwise?) Some (more than one) say that denial is the first step down that road. And admittedly, those goggles always make me smile.

So I properly lost my Whitby virginity, sharing a cottage with graylion, antipodienne and fluffymark, and the refreshing asw909, whose acquaintance I was very pleased to make -- his rare brand of down-to-earth argumentativeness just the right addition to our temporary household.

With graylion of course it was assured that we would be well fed and kept in good shape for the nightly events. Lovely music, nearly all I listened to worthwhile, if not necessarily the greatest of the great. Of the gigs, Crüxshadows (my first live gig of a band with the heavy metal umlaut!!) were a cut above the others in professionalism and sure laid on a fun show. The Last Dance are one to watch. And the Soho Dolls ... well I didn't care much for the blather between the sets, but they're a musical bunch and, maybe not exactly true to the venue, a surprisingly good Rock band.

A scary 80s night at Laughton's (a Goth conga line, and an end of the evening with everyone, Irish included, singing "Jerusalem" -- need I say more?). 80s stuff always raises very bad connotations for me: I'm supposed to have grown up with the stuff but was in reality a near-total social outcast back then. Maybe I'm getting over it. Though give me some electronic music any time, it's easier to listen and dance to.

Be that as it may, I've rarely had such a refreshing few days before. Photos (except of the football match, which still await uploading) are available.

Spent the most lovely, but massively over-the-top shopping day with m_nivalis in London today.

'Twas simple -- I took all her suggestions on a wide-ranging list of potential items from perfume (Blue Agava & Cacao, if you can believe it, though Lime Basil & Mandarin is still very high on my list and will, I believe, require another visit to the shop) to various paper-based art forms. My only consolation is that her acquisitions were even bulkier. Oh, and I could introduce her to my favourite-ever fast-food restaurant (Leon). Maybe no excuse is required -- it was all great fun, with spring in full force, particularly in Kensington Roof Gardens. Which also offers rare ducks and flamingos.

I had to leave slightly early, as I had a rare spot of weekend-duty for my job, doing some testing after a major hardware upgrade. My stuff was supposed to come in at 7pm, but the others (based in Denver, Toronto and Dublin ... I'm getting used to this sort of regionally distributed collaboration) were over three hours ahead of schedule. Oops. Luckily, there were technical reasons that kept me from even theoretically starting before 6 pm, which was good because that's when I managed to be online and available.

It's been "meet LJers live" time lately, with traipsing around the Oxfordshire countryside and through Stratford-upon-Avon with m_nivalis and graylion and, for the latter, celemon over Easter. Lots of enjoyable (by which I mean: smart, bookish, geeky, and brilliant) company, thanks to graylion and his Swedish connections. Or something like that.

Stratford's a slightly strange place. A bit depressing at the train station end, with a long string of (mostly) "fish bars". (It never ceases to amaze me how many regional terms there are for what's called "chippies" in London and "chippers" in Dublin.) Then the very model of a 21st century English high street, with all the requisite retail chains and a few extra, plus a handful of rural-ish pub-par-restaurant places offering "Cream Tea" and the like. Then after that a huge crowd of tourists and day-trippers hanging about the clump of theatres. The sights themselves -- Christ Church for example, which is grand -- weren't all that overrun, in the end.

Maybe things are changing or settling down for me in this country. Or I'm misinterpreting what stuff means. Because I'm like hell totally confused about things like now not only owning a skirt, but even liking it and indeed wearing it.

Another lesson from the Stratford trip is that there is at least one competent and pleasant train company operating out of London, and that's Chiltern Railway. They even let me upgrade my (already used!) single fare to a special-price day return for the exact price difference between the two: £ 0,10. Yep.